2017
(like 2016 - 2013 before it) sees another year of the Slovaks licking their
wounds and trying to work out just exactly how they are ever going to not
finish last.

Max
Jason Mai is your typical heavy on make-up/light on t-shirt hard rocker.
An angry man, he will be failing miserably in 2012 for a country that
can't seem to get the hang of the Eurosong. Read about him here

I
worry for Slovakia as they've clearly got something to offer. Take Twiins
for example, a twin two piece of remarkably svelte young maidens. Their
song "I'm still alive" is sadly not as impressive as their promo
pictures, and I fear for an early departure in '11. Learn more here

Kristina,
half tree- half vixen for the Slovaks in 2010 with "Horehronie".
Horehronie sounds like a wonderful place to be if you like the coutryside,
and you can find out more about this idyll here

And
so welcome back Slovakia in 2009, having forgiven them for their continued
snubbing of the contest over the last decade. I would've loved to see a
grand entrance back into the comp, but with Kamil Mikulcik & Nela Posickova
"Let' t'mou" isn't going anywhere but back out of the door they
way the came in. Learn a bit about it here

The Tourist Guide says

"There's a refreshing absence of
McDonald's-style commercialism that is rampant across Western Europe.
Quaint and jovial with a surprisingly rich cultural life, Bratislava is
a capital city without the usual congestion. The High Tatras are a magnificent
range of mountains dotted with villages with deep peasant traditions.
You'll find Slovaks to be an extremely helpful, pleasant people prepared
to go out of their way to welcome you. From folk festivals, to castle
tours to snow boarding and hiking you'll find Slovakia a spectacular country
to visit."

Bratislava

Not only is Bratislava the largest city in Slovakia,
it also serves as the state capital. Furthermore, Bratislava is the seat
of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, the Government of the
Slovak Republic, national ministries and the other central bodies of the
state administration of the Slovak Republic. It is situated in the centre
of Europe in the southwestern part of Slovakia. It borders with Hungary
in the south and with Austria in the west. The town spreads like a fan
on both banks of the Danube River, and at the foot of the Low Carpatians
at. Due to its position on the border between the mild and warm climatic
zones, it ranks among the warmest spots in Slovakia with an average temperature
of 9,9°C".

A Slovakian man estimates he's eaten more than 11,000 chickens
since being diagnosed as a diabetic 30 years ago.
Jan Csovary has chicken for breakfast, lunch and tea.
He started eating it after reading about foods diabetics can safely eat
and finding the only thing he liked was chicken.
But he has to do his own cooking after his wife said she was sick of the
sight of chickens 20 years ago. He said: "Once I started eating chicken
I really got a taste for it, and even now 30 years later I can't get enough.
"I feel as fit and healthy as I did when I was diagnosed with diabetes,
and I'm now 70 years old."
Mr Csovary from Prievidza says cream of chicken soup has been on the menu
every day.
He said: "I'm a great cook, as long as it's chicken soup. I can make
a different variety for every day of the week."
---
Slovakian farmers are blaming nuclear fallout from Chernobyl for turning
their sweetcorn into "M&Ms".
Monika and Stefan Regec, from Gana, near Galanta, say their sweetcorn tastes
of chocolate and has turned multi-coloured. "We planted regular
corn seed just to fill an empty patch in our little garden. We had no idea
that when we harvested it and took off the leaves, pods of such bright and
varied colours would be revealed."
Now the Regec's storeroom is full of red, brown, grey, blue and green corncobs.
Others are pearly white, orange, and even black. "When we cooked
the brown corn the kids said it tasted like M&Ms. We made necklaces
out of some of the pods as well," Monika Regec added.
The Regec family believe that nuclear fallout from Chernobyl that left radioactive
waste in much of the area is to blame for the different coloured corn.
---
A Slovak man trapped in his car under an avalanche freed himself by drinking
60 bottles of beer and urinating on the snow to melt it.
Rescue teams found Richard Kral drunk and staggering along a mountain path
four days after his Audi car was buried in the Slovak Tatra mountains.
He told them that after the avalanche, he had opened his car window and
tried to dig his way out.
But as he dug with his hands, he realised the snow would fill his car before
he managed to break through.
He had 60 half-litre bottles of beer in his car as he was going on holiday,
and after cracking one open to think about the problem he realised he could
urinate on the snow to melt it, local media reported.
He said: "I was scooping the snow from above me and packing it down
below the window, and then I peed on it to melt it. It was hard and now
my kidneys and liver hurt. But I'm glad the beer I took on holiday turned
out to be useful and I managed to get out of there."
---
Rail staff in Slovakia found a human leg stuck to the front of a train that
had travelled hundreds of miles across eastern Europe.
The leg was discovered at the Zilina train station in northern Slovakia
attached to an express train that had arrived from the Polish capital, Warsaw.
Police said the limb "probably" belonged to a man who had been
hit by the train as it travelled through Poland. The train was four hours
late following the accident.
Spokesman with the Slovak Railway Police, Jozef Buransky, said the leg would
be stored at a local hospital until the victim's family requests it back.
He said: "It's up to them whether the leg returns to Polish territory
so that it can be buried with the rest of the man's body."

to come

A Slovakian
man has pushed a 16-ton tram car 250ft using a pole attached to his Adam's
apple.
Robert Mikula says he carried out the feat using his vital inner energy
to stop himself turning into a lethal weapon. It was the martial arts
expert's third attempt this year and comes a year after a Hungarian died
doing the same challenge.
The 28-year-old tried to get the feat entered into the Guinness Book of
World Records, but was told it was too dangerous to be recognised.
Mr Mikula said: "It took lots of energy out of me and the first thing
I felt when I finished was thirsty." He now intends to try pulling
a 60-ton boat over the same distance by pulling it on a chain held between
his teeth.

Andy
Warhol
Ivan Reitman
Daniela Hantuchova
Josef Karol Hell (a great name and also invented a water pump